Santaguida struggles in Vermont’s loss to BC

Catamount defenseman Alexx Privitera (18) battles for the puck with Eagles' forward Ryan Fitxgerald (19) during the men's hockey game between the Boston College Eagles and the Vermont Catamounts at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Friday night in Burlington.(Photo: BRIAN JENKINS/for the FREE PRESS)

In an eerie situation reminiscent to a year earlier, Boston College drove UVM’s starting goaltender to the bench early in the second period, saw the backup work 30-plus minutes of shutout hockey but still won the game just as they did, 3-0, in Friday’s Game 1 of a best-of-3 Hockey East quarterfinal series.

It happened in 2015 when 6-foot-4 Brody Hoffman not only blanked the Eagles for the rest of the opening game but carried Vermont to two victories and a trip to the HEA semifinals at TD Garden.

Hoffman took over for starter Mike Santaguida 24:08 into the second period of that 4-2 defeat. Friday, at nearly the same time — 23:20 — 6-foot-3 Packy Munson stepped in for the ill-fated Santaguida. So maybe … ?

However, to score such a stunning turnaround this year, the Catamounts must overcome a deeper and more experienced BC squad for which goalie Thatcher Demko is excelling. Against Vermont, which might be goal-deprived but nonetheless fires away, Demko made 36 saves. Seventeen came in the second, most after Munson took command of the UVM crease.

For Santaguida, the demons of Conte Forum led to his third straight mid-game departure in the Eagles’ home rink. Though he could do little about BC’s first goal, a product of an egregious UVM defensive zone error, he tangled with a teammate behind his net to set up the second, then let the third one elude him.

“Mike’s been great for us and he was in the series last weekend after a lengthy time off,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon said. “It wasn’t his night tonight.”

So with the score 3-0 and UVM playing a bit shellshocked, Sneddon decided to make the change.

“The guys kind of changed their tone a little bit, Packy did his job and we had a number of chances,” Sneddon said.

Still, UVM never threatened on the scoreboard and BC concentrated on securing the win. The 6-foot-4 Demko was just too big an obstacle for a Vermont team that has now managed only two goals in 180 minutes against him this year. The Eagles swept, 3-1 and 4-1, in the regular season at Gutterson Fieldhouse.

“We had some point blank opportunities. We still need to focus more and have more guys take his eyes away, but certainly he played very well,” Sneddon said of Demko.

The Eagles dominated the first overall, quickly putting UVM into a 1-0 hole when a wide-open Adam Gilmour blew a shot past Santaguida at 4:14.

“Our center didn’t stay with their center, which is what we had talked about,” Sneddon said.

Then, at 10:48, Santaguida played the puck behind his net but became entangled with defenseman Trey Phillips, leaving a vacated net for Austin Cangelosi.

“We absolutely botched the play to give them the goal,” Sneddon said. “We made two really bad mistakes early on and we’re down 2-0.”

The third goal came at 3:20 of the second, a power play tally by Ryan Fitzgerald that Santaguida couldn’t handle cleanly. That ended his night and Munson’s entry spurred the Catamounts to better, if scoreless, play the remainder of the game.

To compound UVM’s offensive misery, the Vermont power play went 0-for-6, making the Catamounts 1-for-21 in three games versus BC (25-5-5) this year.

The ninth-seeded Catamounts (14-21-3) must win Saturday to force a Game 3 Sunday or their season is over.

Correspondent Ted Ryan contributed to this report. Contact him at TedRyanVT@aol.com and follow him on Twitter at @TedRyanVT.